As a chatbot builder, it is important that when working with clients, you have experience building chatbots in multiple chatbot builder platforms. One platform that I like building in is BotStar. But for a while, one of the features that is most useful was not present when I first started with this platform which was using a ref URL in BotStar. Now, I am happy to share with you how to use a ref URL in BotStar that will make your chatbots using BotStar even more dynamic and useful.

Having a ref URL is a way to have a link to your bot and use it to bring in dynamic information or go to a specific block in your chatbot, instead of having to go directly to your welcome block each time. Using a ref URL in BotStar can allow you to set a variable within BotStar that can set information about a user. Maybe you want to know where this user is from and clicked your BotStar chatbot link, you can pass along with the link a variable and set that variable within the chatbot using key:value.

If you have other dynamic information that you would like to set, maybe from your CRM or a marketing campaign, you can do so using a ref URL in BotStar. This will go a long way in integrating into multiple systems with the same information. And it will give your users a much better experience.

But the most powerful piece to using a ref URL in BotStar is the ability to go to a specific block within your chatbot. Being able to send users to certain parts of your chatbot makes your chatbot a lot more dynamic and it will help you to use multiple links outside of your chatbot to get users to where you need to send them.

Let’s say that you have a welcome block for general users to come in, click a button on where or what information they would like. Now, you can have other areas of your chatbot like if you have marketing campaign where you want to have a specific quiz, you can send out a link with the block information at the end of the link that will bypass all other blocks, including the welcome block to go straight to the block you need them to go.

Ready to build a better chatbot? Check out some examples below of using a ref URL in your BotStar chatbot (Note: the link url’s will not work here, just used to show as an example and you would fill in with your m.me link and also you specific block of variable info):

Ref URL in the BotStar To Specific BotStar Block

hxxps_://m.me/122351985495645?ref=block:sc26436c5-ebc7-5f95-a3c2-3bbb4e744c7b

Let’s break this down –
1. Here, the (hxxps_://m.me/122351985495645), this would be your specific m.me chatbot url.

2. Appending the url with (?ref=block:), this is important to let BotStar know that you are trying to go to a specific block.

3. Now you will append the particular block ID (sc26436c5-ebc7-5f95-a3c2-3bbb4e744c7b) that you will find on the right panel of your builder.

So, when someone clicks on that url, they will go to that Block with the ID of sc26436c5-ebc7-5f95-a3c2-3bbb4e744c7b

How cool is that?

Another example is to use ref URL in BotStar:

Update a variable

hxxps_://m.me/122351985495645?ref=variables:my_variable:8
Let’s break this down –
1. Here, the (hxxps_://m.me/122351985495645), this would be your specific m.me chatbot url.

2. Appending the url with (?ref=variables:), this is important to let BotStar know that you are trying to update a variable or variables.

3. To update the variable or variables, (my_variable:8) is needed to set the key:value variable. So your variable name is ‘my_variable’ and the value is 8.

**If you would like to to add multiple variables, you would just add on to the variables like so:

hxxps_://m.me/122351985495645?ref=variables:my_variable:8;variables:my_variable_2:jersey

To break this down, you (variables:my_variable:8;variables:my_variable_2:jersey), set the first variable (variables:my_variable:8), then you need to end that variable with a semi-colon (;), then add the next variable (variables:my_variable_2:jersey)

Let’s say that you want to update a user’s information like first name or last name from another system, you can use a ref URL similar to this:

Update a user attribute

hxxps_://m.me/122351985495645?ref=user:first_name:Christopher;user:last_name:Walker

This falls inline with much of what I have laid out before but now, we will user user and the user attribute (user:first_name:Christopher;user:last_name:Walker)

In this example, we have a ‘first_name’ user attribute with a value of ‘Christopher’ and we also have a user attribute of ‘last_name’ and a value of ‘Walker’.

And you can combine all into one url, just seperate them by semi-colons (;)

And there is much more that you can do with BotStar chatbot builder to come with this platform.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email or shoot me a messenger message.

If you would like for me and my digital marketing agency, EXECUTABLE, to build a BotStar or ManyChat chatbot campaign for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Getting seller leads usually involve providing leads with lead magnets like seller guides but a lot of time providing a way to show a seller what their ‘Home Is Worth’. What I am working on rolling out in the coming days is making this possible through a chatbot. So when someone wants to know what their home is worth, they can get this information instantly through the chatbot and be prompted to provide their contact info to get a more accurate price from you, the agent.

By using the chatbot, you pick up a chatbot subscriber which gives you a way to instantly ‘chat’ with the lead and have more conversations as opposed to email which is very one way. Even if they don’t leave their email, you can ping them through messenger and do other cool automation that will free you up until you have time to have a longer conversation. This typically leads to a phone call and eventually clients. How cool is that?

Make sure to join my list (just send an email to My List Subscription) and LIKE my Facebook page to stay up to date.

I wanted to make sure that it was super simple and powerful for real estate agents. As a licensed real estate agent, I understand that agents don’t have much time to try to figure out and build their own chatbot.

Check out the screen share below:

My stance on chatbots has shifted from automating everything to more assisting the business in being more consistent and enhancing the personal touch needed in most businesses.

Too many businesses are caught up in automating everything and forget that what makes your business stand out with your customers is that personal touch. It’s what Chic-fil-a does. They focus on how they make someone feel when visiting their establishment more than focusing on making price the ultimate driver. Which is why they continue to grow in their profits despite being open 6 days vs 7 days.

I think that as more chatbots are deployed, you will see more chatbots assist businesses more with understanding their customers than it being an automated communication agent for them. At the end of the day, most of us still love to press ‘0’ when we call into customer service to talk to a human.

Check out this article talking about – Chatbots: Beyond the hype, now what?
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/chatbots-beyond-the-hype-what-now-5ec0110f6397

There is a huge need for real estate agents to step up their marketing efforts to be able to remain relevant in today’s digital age. Gone are the days where just signing up for Zillow or Realtor.com ads and watching the leads pour in. And techniques like Cold Calling, Door Knocking, and Direct Mail, still have its place, but the effectiveness is not where it used to be as people have become more closed off with their doorbell cameras and solicitation blockers on their mobile phones.

But there are so many tools and systems out there it is easy to get confused and going online in groups, everyone has their favorites to use. In order for real estate teams to be able to compete today, they will need to have a core system in place that works together. By having this system, once it is running as it should, your team will only need to focus on one thing, that’s contacting and keeping track of who’s in your CRM.
I like to call this system the Real Estate Marketing Ecosystem (R.E.M.E.) and it’s one that is a must for real estate teams to use in order to grow and compete with all of the noise and distractions your next clients have to go through just to remember that you exist and how you can help them. I break down the core components of this ecosystem and break down their purposes. Please let me know if you have any questions on how all of this fits together.

Website

A fully functional website is just the beginning of getting things set up for a successful Real Estate Marketing Ecosystem. A website with built-in IDX, tracking pixels for building custom audiences to retarget on Facebook, integration with your CRM, and an analytics tool to understand where things need improving is where you need to be.

It’s a place for you to produce content that you can use and repurpose on social media and to send out to your mailing list to stay top of mind. The content on your website is a great way to get traffic to your website so that you can retarget this traffic so that you can remain in front of them in the place (Facebook and Google) where they are.

There are many options when it comes to websites and you shouldn’t get too caught up with the platform, as long as you are able to install your tracking pixel, and include an IDX so that you can use this as a lead magnet for your social media advertising.

Social Media Advertising (Facebook Ads/Google Ads)

Facebook since the beginning of 2018 has become more of a ‘Pay To Play’ model. It is vital for real estate teams to use their ad platform to acquire new leads, nurture leads who haven’t contacted you yet but interested in your services, and stay top of mind with past clients.
Facebook ads are more than boosting posts. Building a proper marketing funnel (Top of Funnel [Cold Audience], Middle of Funnel [Warm Audience], Bottom of Funnel [Past Clients]) with a focus on retargeting is how you win with Facebook. Your next clients are on Facebook and if you don’t have a presence there, more and more real estate teams are there who are and it’s important for these clients to continue to see your presence. And Facebook loves video and this will allow you to reach more people as well as stay in front of your audience in a medium that people like more than pictures and text. So utilizing videos will help with building your presence online and gaining more leads.

If you are not using Facebook Ads in the proper way, you won’t get results. And for those saying that they didn’t work for them, I would ask them, did you provide a compelling offer for them to engage with you? Did you retarget this audience with relevant content marketing and videos of yourself? If you aren’t retargeting, you are just wasting money and you aren’t getting that when you use lead sources like Zillow and Realtor.com. Did you include a chatbot to provide you with a way to directly communicate with leads through chat which is becoming a must for businesses to use to connect with leads and clients?

CRM

Having a CRM that’s integrated with your lead sources is what is necessary to keep you and your team happy. The CRM is the only place you and your team need to focus your attention as the rest of the components of the marketing ecosystem. This is probably the most important piece of the ecosystem because you need a place to keep track with who you should contact, and how often you have contacted them.

There are so many CRMs, that your head would spin. The best CRM is the one that you and your team use consistently. Once your CRM is configured and integrated with the rest of your ecosystem, lead nurturing becomes much easier for your team and for you to focus.

IDX

Having a website is great, but having a website with an IDX is the best because you can direct lead magnet traffic to your website IDX and when they visit your site, you can now retarget them on Facebook so you can stay in front of them with your content marketing. Having an IDX will help with SEO, but with all of the search engine changes, don’t bank on getting a flood of organic traffic, but you will get traffic if you combine fresh blog content with links to your IDX.

Chatbots (Digital Personal Assistants)

Chatbots (Facebook Messenger Automation) has become one of the best methods for creating a one-on-one direct line of communication with leads and clients. It is frictionless as this avenue of communication is instantly established once a person interacts with the chatbot.

It will allow for your business to have a conversation with a person that they wouldn’t have, had they not had a chatbot in place. It allows for 24/7 automation so that the chatbot will be able to work on your behalf until someone from your team is able to continue the conversation. Chatbots help qualify leads by asking questions (Have you been qualified, what’s your timeline, etc) that help retrieve more information about a person and their needs before you are able to contact them. And because chatbots are a product of Facebook, it makes it simple for someone to provide their real phone number and real email instead of fake information that occurs many times on landing pages.

You can also use chatbots to send broadcasts out to everyone who’s interacted with your chatbot and segment messages as well. Facebook is continuously expanding this platform for businesses as they will be integrating their Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram Direct Messages into one integrated Inbox. And the success of using chatbots to deliver listing information will allow you to obtain more buyers and buyer leads who may be looking for a different home than you have ever done in the past.

If you have any questions about how all of this works, don’t hesitate to contact me. Christopher M. Walker
Digital Marketing Architect ‘I help ‘non-techie’ Real Estate Agents close more deals using Digital Marketing Skills.’

404-500-6059